For The Right Reason
by headoverhook
Summary: "So make sure you want him back because you want him and not because he is with somebody else." Derek's words make Lexie wonder if she actually wants Mark back for the right reason. COMPLETE
1. Crossroads

**Yep, another story. You can blame Shonda. **

**Okay, it's official. I'm pathetic. When Lexie walked towards the elevator I was actually squealing and clapping my hands because I was so excited to see what would happen in the elevator. One minute later I felt as if my shipper heart had just been smashed against the wall. **

**So my frustration with the show has to go somewhere before I'm going to explode. So here you go! What should have happened.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Crossroads<strong>

_So make sure you want him back because you want him and not because he is with somebody else._

Lexie couldn't stop thinking about Derek's words. Did she want Mark back because she couldn't stand seeing him with another woman? Was it jealousy? Lexie pressed the elevator button, waiting for the cabin to arrive, her mind spinning around Derek's words.

_The only thing that could change that is, if he knew that he still has a shot with you._

Would Mark really change his mind if he would know about her feelings? Would he choose her?

The ping of the elevator jerked her out of her musing, but when she looked up a familiar pain stabbed her heart. He was standing in the elevator and only seeing him made her heart ache.

No. It wasn't jealousy. She loved him. She was sure. She wanted him. Not because she was with somebody else. She wanted him because she didn't know how to live without him. Being without him made her feel as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the air, being apart from him felt as if an essential part of herself was missing. She needed him like the air she was breathing, she needed him like the heart that was beating in her chest.

The breath she had been holding rushed out in a soft sigh. She couldn't turn around and walk away, so she stepped inside.

"Lobby?" Mark asked her before he pressed the button to close the doors.

"Lobby!" Lexie replied, her voice sounded even strange to her. All squeaky. As if she had to push the air around the big lump in her throat.

The elevator doors closed and Lexie's heart began to race. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity? She just had to step forward and flip the emergency switch. It would be that easy. Flip the switch and he couldn't escape. She would be able to talk to him without any interruptions. But before Lexie could make a decision, the elevator pinged and the doors opened.

"Parking lot?" Mark asked, his voice sending goosebumps over her whole body.

"Parking lot!" Lexie pressed out, following him out of the elevator. The smirk he sent in her direction almost made her heart stop. But suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't do it. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't go to the parking lot with him.

"Ah, you know what? I … I forgot I have some charting to do. So … have a great night." Lexie turned around sharply and pressed the elevator button, willing the cabin to arrive faster.

Mark furrowed his brows in confusion, feeling disappointment rising in his chest. She couldn't even go to the parking lot with him? Why did they still acted so weird around each other? But if he thought back, Lexie was acting weird since she had thrown the baseball at Julia's chest and then she had been standing in front of his apartment, completely unexpected, because she'd wanted to talk to him.

Mark shook his head. He obviously read too much into it. If it would have been important Lexie would have told him. Maybe she just hadn't wanted to spend the evening alone with Zola, maybe she just wanted to talk to an adult. But Mark could still not shake the uneasiness. He just wished that he could stop caring about her. He just wished that he didn't still have feelings for her. He just wished that the part of his heart that still hoped she would come back would just shut up and give him a break.

~M&L~

Lexie stood in the elevator, pressing her head against the wall.

"You are an idiot, Lexie Grey? You are a complete idiot. You have to tell him. What are you waiting for? Do you want him to propose to her? Do you want to wait until it's too late?"

Lexie had hoped that talking to herself would make her feel better. But it didn't work. The moment she realized that the possibility that he might ask Julia to marry him wasn't that far fetched, her heart clenched painfully.

"Oh my god, what am I doing?"

The moment the doors opened Lexie rushed out of the elevator, taking the stairs to run down to the lobby. The elevator wasn't fast enough. She needed to stop him before he would get into his car and drive away.

Running through the sliding doors, she stopped for a second, searching the lot frantically for any sign of Mark. She thought that he was already gone when she caught a glimpse of his jacket and she almost fell over her own feet in the attempt to reach him before he could climb into his car.

"Mark? Wait!" Lexie exclaimed, slightly breathless, as she reached him. As he turned around, clearly surprised why she was standing in the parking lot, Lexie took in a deep breath before she said slowly. "I need to talk to you."

"About the stuff you wanted to talk about on Valentine's Day?" Mark asked curiously.

"Yeah, about that stuff." Lexie replied, trying to catch her breath.

"Sure. Do you wanna grab a drink at Joe's?" Mark already turned into the direction of Joe's bar and Lexie grabbed his arm to hold him back.

"No." Lexie said, sharper than she had intended to and Mark looked confused at her, his gaze dropping to her hand on his arm and Lexie quickly pulled her hand back. "I … I don't think we should talk about this … stuff in public."

"We are standing on a parking lot, Lex. Not really private."

"Maybe. But it's definitely better than in the hospital or at Joe's. At least here I can see if someone is going to interrupt us."

"Okay, so shoot. What stuff are you wanting to talk about?" Mark really wanted to know what she wanted to tell him. It was obviously so important to her that she'd run after him.

"I'm carrying it around for months now. Scared to tell you. Scared that I'm too late and obviously I'm already too late." Lexie started to explain.

"Too late? Too late for what?" Mark asked, a strange feeling settling into his stomach. She couldn't mean what his heart hoped she meant. That wasn't possible.

"I overheard you telling Derek that you are thinking about moving in with Julia and I freaked out." Lexie said. "God damn it. I even went all crazy in front of Alex and Jackson telling them a story about pets. It's driving me crazy, Mark. I can't even look at you anymore without feeling as if a car just crashed into my heart. Only looking at you hurts so damn much, Mark. Knowing that I was the one who shoved you away, knowing that you'd only done what I've told you it's … I am pathetic. I am a pathetic mess."

"You are not making any sense, Lexie." Mark's hands started to tremble and he balled his hands into fists. No, it couldn't be true. She'd told him to leave her alone. She'd been the one who didn't want to love him anymore.

"That's exactly it." Lexie continued, oblivious to the turmoil that raced through Mark's body. "This doesn't make any sense. At all. We don't work. We are too different. But it seems my heart doesn't want to listen."

"Lex? What are you trying to say?" Mark asked barely above a whisper. He had difficulties to breathe. After all this time? Did she want to tell him that she wanted him back?

"Derek told me that it wouldn't matter what he'd tell you. You would move in with Julia anyway. But he also told me that he thinks that I'm the only one who can stop you. But if I'm gonna trying to stop you ..." Lexie paused briefly, her chest constricting painfully. "I should be sure that I'm doing it for the right reasons."

"You want to stop me?" Mark asked incredulously. "Why?"

"Because I'm still in love with you and the thought of you moving in with another woman is killing me." Lexie locked eyes with him, deciding that if there ever had been the need for desperate measures this would be the time. "I'm still in love with you, Mark. I tried not to be but it didn't work. I don't want to love anyone else. I want another chance. I'm in love with you."

"You stole my speech." Mark said hoarsely. "That's not fair, Lexie. You're playing dirty."

"Is it working?"

"What do you expect me to do, Lexie?"

"I don't know. Just tell me if … I just wanna know ..." Lexie took in a deep breath, tears pricking the back of her eyes. "I always hated women who begged a man to take her back, to choose her. So I'm not gonna do it. But I still have to tell you … don't move in with Julia, Mark."

"I don't know if ..." Mark started, but Lexie raised her hand, stopping him in mid-sentence.

"Is there any part of you that still believes in us?" Lexie asked, trying desperately to keep any pleading tone out of her voice. "Just tell me that you don't love me, Mark, and I'll go. I'm gonna turn around and walk away. If you say that you aren't still in love with me, I will leave you alone. But if I … if I still mean something to you then … I want you back, Mark. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If I wouldn't be such a traditional romantic who wants the man to drop on one knee I would do it. But that would be pathetic, right? It would feel like begging and I'm not begging. I'm just stating the facts. I love you and if you turn me down ... I'll survive. Of course I'll survive because who would die because of a broken heart. I'll survive but I don't think that I'm ever going to be able to get completely over you, Mark. A piece of my heart will always belong to you. Always!"

"I can't." Mark replied softly.

"Oooo-kaaay!" Lexie stuttered. Derek had been wrong. She wasn't the one who could stop him. "That's all I wanted to know. I'm just gonna ..."

"No, don't leave." Mark interrupted her, grabbing her arm before she could walk away.

"Why?" Lexie asked. She just wanted to get away. She would break down any second and she didn't want to break down in front of him. "You've just told me that you can't give us another chance."

"I didn't say that."

"Then what did you mean?" Lexie asked, unable to keep the hope out of her voice.

"I can't tell you that I don't love you." Mark replied quietly, his hand tightening around her arm, his eyes burning into hers. "Because it would be a lie, Lex. Because I do love you. I never stopped loving you."

"You do? But ..." Lexie said, but got interrupted by Mark putting his finger over her lips.

"Answer me one question." His finger on his lips made her knees weak. She would do anything for him. "How do I know that you won't walk out on me again the minute things get tough?"

Even though Lexie knew that this would be the most pressing issue he would have with them getting back together it still hurt that he couldn't trust her. But she was willing to accept that this was mostly her fault. She had been the one who walked out on him without giving him a chance to talk to her. Raising her hand, she wrapped her fingers around his and pulled his hand down.

"You don't." Lexie replied softly, intertwining her fingers with his, not able to resist the feeling of his skin on hers. "I can only promise you that I will never walk out on you like this again. But I don't know if my word is good enough for you."

"On the one hand I don't think I can live with the fear that you won't stay around forever." Mark squeezed her hand, the love to her already overwhelming him again. "I'm scared that I wouldn't stop thinking about it every day. That every minute we would spend together would be tainted by this fear."

"And what's on the other hand?"

"On the other hand …" Mark looked down at their entwined hands, his thumb drawing slow circles in her palm before his eyes searched hers again. "I would never forgive myself if I don't try."

"So where does this leave us?" Lexie asked hesitantly.

"At a crossroads?"

"Which way are you going to choose?" Lexie asked fearfully. What if he would choose Julia over her?

"The one where you are waiting for me at the end." Mark replied, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really! But I need some time to catch up to you."

"I'll wait."

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><p><strong>Tschatschanga! That's what I would have wanted to see. But of course why should we get anything even remotely like this. We can be glad if they are saying more than three words to each other. It's getting so ridiculous that you could almost laugh about it. Almost. If it wouldn't make me so sad to see them being unable to talk to each other. <strong>

**I have an idea to continue this but it's not going to be a very long story. Three to four chapters I think. Might depend on how much longer Shonda is going to stomp on my shipper heart.  
><strong>


	2. Forever

**I've no idea where this came from. Well, I just blame Shonda, okay? If she would give me my M/L back I wouldn't need to write so much about them, and I have clearly still some issues with the sorbet sex. :-)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Forever<strong>

"You've gotta be kidding me?"

Mark looked up from the chart he was currently studying, raising his eyebrows when he saw Callie standing in front of him, her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face.

"What's the matter, Callie?" Mark asked, though he was almost certain what she was so upset about.

"Tell me it's not true." Callie slapped her hand furiously on the desk and Mark had to suppress a smile.

"First off I need to know what you are talking about before I can tell you if it's true or not." Mark replied nonchalantly, putting the pen in his coat pocket.

"Tell me you didn't break up with Julia." Callie told him, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

"Can't do." Mark stated calmly. He'd known that Callie wouldn't be happy to hear that he broke up with Julia but she acted as if she'd been the one who had been left.

"So you really did break up with her." Callie said slowly, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, I did." Mark told her, folding his arms in front of his chest, waiting for the inevitable storm that would come.

"Why?" Callie whined. "She is perfect."

"I don't love her, Callie." Mark said quietly. "It's not fair to continue a relationship with her. I shouldn't have started a relationship to begin with."

"This is about Lexie, isn't it?" Callie asked accusatorily.

"None of your business." Mark replied harshly.

"It's my business. Every girlfriend of you is kind of my business. I need to trust them with Sofia."

"And you don't trust Lexie." Mark said, voicing it as a statement not a question. He knew that since he'd made the mistake to give in to her pleading to have pity sex with her she hadn't hidden her distaste for Lexie. He sometimes wondered how the moment when their friendship ended could have passed without him noticing it.

"Do you?" Callie scoffed, not even trying to hide her anger against Lexie. "She bailed the moment you've told her about Sofia."

"Can you blame her, Callie?" Mark replied, the anger rising in him too now. Lexie wasn't the only one who had maybe made a wrong decision. If he'd be a stronger man Sofia wouldn't even exist because he would have turned Callie down. "I slept with you and Sofia is the living proof that I cheated on her."

"You weren't even together." Callie huffed exasperatedly. "It wasn't cheating."

"She felt that way and I can see her point. I was in love with her and slept with another woman, even though I wanted her back." Mark said quietly, still trying to avoid a full blown fight with Callie in the middle of the hospital.

"Of course, Lexie can't do anything wrong!"

"Oh, she did plenty wrong and so did I. I'm not blind with love. I see her flaws. And mine."

"So you are really back together with her?" Callie asked incredulously. "I can't believe it. After everything she put you through?"

"Just to set things straight here." Mark said. "We are not back together."

"Thank God." Callie sighed in relief.

"Yet." Mark added, feeling a hint of satisfaction to be able to say it. "You are the mother of my child so we need to get along, but I remember a time where we used to be friends. But we are no longer friends."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that two years ago you've told me that I should talk to Lexie because I shouldn't let the love of my life get away. A few months ago you said this ship has sailed. There was a time where you've supported my decisions."

"You can't be seriously considering to give her another chance." Callie said frustrated.

"It's not about who gives whom another chance, Callie." Mark tried to explain. "Don't you get it? She is still the love of my life and she always will be."

"Don't come crawling back to me when she dumps you again."

"You know what?" Mark stated frustrated, not willing to let her ruin his good mood. "You can believe what you want, Callie. I don't care. Not anymore. I love her and she loves me. And yes, we are giving our love another chance."

"You are an idiot."

"Maybe you see me as an idiot. I consider myself very lucky."

"Lucky?" Callie snorted incredulously. "She just couldn't stand it to see you with another woman. That's all. Mark my words. I'll give you three months before she'll break your heart again."

"That won't happen, Callie. I'm not gonna let her go again." Mark said quietly. "I'm gonna walk away now. I don't wanna have a fight in the middle of the hospital."

"She will leave you, Mark. Like always. She will walk away at the first sight of trouble." Callie shouted after him.

"Callie! That's enough!" Derek spoke directly behind her. He'd watched the exchange over the last few minutes and considered Callie's behavior way out of line.

"Don't tell me you think this is a good idea." Callie turned around, looking at him incredulously.

"Callie, they belong together." Derek stated quietly. He knew that he'd been one of the first who had been against this relationship. But he'd seen the change in Mark since he met Lexie. Mark wanted to be a better person. For her. He might not have seen it from the first moment, but it was quite obvious now that they were soul mates. "They might be happy with other people but it's never gonna be the same. Their love is special. They can't find it with anyone else."

"How did you get so wise?" Callie asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It doesn't matter what we think." Derek tried to reason with her. "It never did. When they started dating, he even risked our friendship to be with her. He fell in love with her even though he tried not to."

"And what did she do for him?" Callie spitted out, still convinced that Mark would make the biggest mistake of his life when he would give Lexie another chance.

"She doesn't want him back because she is jealous. She wants him back because no matter the circumstances, no matter what stands in their way, she can't live without him and is willing to fight for their love." Derek said, but realizing that Callie still didn't want to see it, he added. "You didn't see her freak out when she overheard Mark telling me that he'll consider moving in with Julia. After Mark had told her about Sofia, she walked away because she was hurt. But believe me she had a lot of time to think about it. Did you know that Jackson and she broke up because of Mark? He'd realized that she would never stop loving Mark. Even if she didn't want to love him, she still can't live without him"

"It won't last." Callie replied stubbornly.

"I think you're wrong. I think they'll stay together forever."

"You really believe they are gonna make it this time?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Why?" Callie asked incredulously. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because I know Mark and I know Lexie." Derek said. "They won't let anything get between them again. They both learned from their mistakes, tried to live their lives without each other. It didn't work."

"I'm still not convinced."

"Callie, Mark is the father of your child and he was once your best friend. Stop acting like a bitch and be happy for them. I know I am."

"I'm not acting like a bitch." Callie gritted out through clenched teeth. "I only want what's best for Mark."

"No. You only want what's best for you." Derek stated calmly.

"Derek, I don't think you have the right to talk to me like that."

"Oh, I do. Mark is my best friend and Lexie is my sister-in-law. Don't mess with them, Callie. I'm standing one hundred percent behind their decision to get back together and so does Meredith. Believe me, you don't want to mess with the Grey sisters"

"You are all insane!" Callie exclaimed.

"Yeah, insanely in love with our women and we don't want it any other way." Derek smiled.

"If I wouldn't know better I would bet that they put a spell on you two."

"Just leave them alone, Callie. You've already lost Mark as your friend. But he is Sofia's father. Try to stay civil and act like an adult."

"You know what? I'm gonna go. I don't have to stand here any longer and listen to your insults."

"You do that! But remember ..." Derek paused until Callie turned around. "Leave them alone!"

~M&L~

Lexie opened the door to the on-call room cautiously, a flush of relief floating over her when she saw Mark sitting on the lower bed. Closing the door behind her quietly, she approached him. Kneeling down in front of him, she put a hand on his knee.

"I've heard about your fight with Callie. Are you okay?" Lexie spoke softly and Mark put his hand over hers, looking up in her eyes.

"I'm fine." Mark said, his fingers squeezing hers, a small smile appearing on his face. "I know I've told you I need time to catch up to you, but I'm done wasting another minute."

"I'm not sure I'm following." Lexie looked confused, slightly thrown by his change of subject.

"Come here, Little Grey!" Mark tugged at her hand until she straightened herself and sat beside him on the bed.

Maybe it was his tone of voice, maybe it was hearing the nickname he'd invented, but her eyes welled up with tears, causing Mark to caress her cheek with his hand, wiping a tear away. "Hey! What's wrong?"

"It seems like forever that you've called me Little Grey." Lexie whispered, smiling through the tears. "The first time you've called me Little Grey was even before we've started to see each other secretly."

"But I'd been already intrigued by you, trying desperately to bury my rising feelings for you."

"Thank god it didn't work." Lexie chuckled, laying her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"If you wouldn't have come to my hotel room I might have been successful."

"Do you sometimes wish that I've never shown up at your door step?" Lexie asked softly, burying her face in his chest.

"No, Lexie." Mark leaned back until he could look into her face, pulling her head up until she had to lock eyes with him. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and you taking of your clothes was the sexiest thing I've ever seen."

"You were quite reluctant this evening. I almost needed to take off all my clothes before I coaxed a reaction out of you."

"Nah, I couldn't keep my eyes off you." Mark smiled down at her. "The moment I saw you standing there in your purple bra, suddenly self-conscious if you'd made the right move, I was lost."

"I've really thought you, the man whore, would turn me down."

"I've stopped being a man whore the moment my lips touched yours."

Lexie pulled his head down, sealing his lips with hers. "I love you, Mark." Lexie whispered when they needed to come up for air. "The best decision of my life was to go to your hotel room."

"And my best decision was to go to Denver!" Mark smiled broadly and Lexie lifted her hand, caressing his cheek, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "I love you, Lexie."

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><p><strong>Okay, I just needed to get this chapter out after Shonda's so called spoiler made me kind of angry. How long do we have to wait for the reunion? I don't even know if she's gonna be able to make the wait worth it after what she already put us through.<strong>


	3. United forever

**I've told you this is not going to be a very long story. So this is the final installment. I hope you enjoy. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: United forever<strong>

"Are we all set for tonight?" Lexie turned around and the sight of Mark smiling down at her made her heart beat faster.

"Yeah, we are." Lexie said, intertwining her fingers with his. She still felt the urge to touch him every time she saw him. It still felt so unreal, like she was living a dream. She'd waited so long for this to happen that every time her fingers touched his skin a shiver ran down her spine.

"So do we need to go shopping or do we have everything?" Mark asked her, his thumb brushing over her palm.

"I ..." Mark's finger caressing her hand completely distracted her and she needed a few seconds before she remembered what he'd just asked her. "No, we're good."

"Okay. So are you still off at six?" Mark asked her.

"Yes, we can get out of here at six." Lexie replied.

"Great." Mark leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers for a brief kiss. "I can't wait."

~M&L~

Lexie was happy about every second she could spend with him. But the moment she walked over the threshold of his apartment an unsettling feeling took place in her stomach and she couldn't shake it.

It took her quite some time before she realized why she felt a certain uneasiness. The last time she'd cooked diner for Mark everything went to hell in the blink of an eye. So she reacted like she always did in such situations. She started to ramble, what made it even worse because it reminded her even more of the night she'd found out that he'd slept with Callie.

"Lex, what's wrong?" Mark's voice interrupted her rambling.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong." Lexie replied quickly. She didn't want to get into the whole Callie mess. They just got back together and she didn't want to taint it by talking about what had torn them apart the last time. She knew they had to talk about it eventually but not right in that moment.

"Lex?" Mark asked quietly, but Lexie continued to stir the sauce. "You're not fine. I see the telltale signs."

"I don't have telltale signs." Lexie mumbled, taking out a noodle to test if they were already al dente or needed a little longer.

"You don't look me in the eyes and you're rambling." Mark clarified. "You are only rambling when you are extremely happy or when you are nervous."

"You know that I'm extremely happy." Lexie's voice sounded muffled when she bent down to receive the sieve from a drawer.

"But you don't look me in the eyes." Mark replied and Lexie straightened herself biting on her bottom lip. "Lex? Talk to me."

"It's actually quite silly. You know what? Let's just eat and ..." Lexie stopped when she saw out of the corner of her eye that he'd stood up from the bar stool and came around the corner. Without saying anything he pulled her into his arms and Lexie immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"We are not gonna repeat our mistakes, Lexie." Mark spoke softly. "Not this time. Something is clearly bothering you and I want to know what. One of our greatest mistakes was that we didn't talk to each other."

Lexie took in a deep breath and somehow being enveloped by Mark's scent soothed her. They'd come so far and she needed to start having faith that their relationship was stable enough. "I still expect the next catastrophe right around the corner and I'm afraid this feeling will never go away."

"Do you want to take it back?" Mark asked her softly and Lexie felt him stiffen.

"Take it back?" She leaned back to look him in the eyes.

"Do you want to turn back the clock?" Mark said quietly, his eyes boring into hers. "Do you wish you've never had said anything to me?"

"Oh my god, no." Lexie replied quickly, her hand shot up to his face and she stroked with her fingers over his cheek. "No, Mark. I love you. It's just … standing here in your kitchen, cooking diner for you … it's just ..."

"I'm sorry, Lex." Mark whispered hoarsely as he realized that the last time they'd been in this exact same situation he'd let her figure out for herself that Callie was pregnant with his child. "I can't change the past, Lex. But I'm so sorry that I've put you through all of this."

"It's not as if I didn't make mistakes myself, Mark." Lexie said. "I'm not blaming anyone. You shouldn't have slept with her in the first place, but it happened. I'm not gonna lie. It still hurts that you've slept with her. I know we weren't together at the time but, strange at it may sound, I still felt betrayed."

"Because I was in love with you and sleeping with Callie while being in love with you was wrong on so many levels."

"Exactly."

"We can't change the past, Lexie." Mark raised his hand, his fingers brushing over her lips. "But we can change our future. Are we able to let the past be the past? Is our love strong enough to forgive our mistakes?"

"I don't even have to ask myself these questions, Mark." Lexie replied, laying her hand directly over his heart. "The last months were pure torture for me. I've buried my love for you so deep inside of me that I've convinced myself that I can live without you. But then one blow came after the other and suddenly I've realized that my life was one big pile of shards and all I wanted to do was breaking down and cry my heart out because I was certain that I've missed my chance, that I've lost my soul mate."

"You think we are soul mates?" Mark asked surprised.

"You don't? What we have is something special. I know that now. The best explanation is that we were meant to be together from the beginning. So yes, I think we are soul mates."

"Maybe you're right." Mark replied thoughtfully. "I can definitely not live without you."

"And I can't live without you." Lexie leaned forward and brushed her lips over his, her fingers trailing along his neck before she breathed above his lips. "Make love to me, Mark."

"Are you sure?" Mark asked, his lips barely touching hers.

"I am." Lexie whispered. "But not here. I … let's just go somewhere else."

"What do you have in mind?"

"The Archfield. Let's start over where it all began."

"Then let's go."

~M&L~

"I actually came here quite often over the last year." Mark whispered, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist.

"You mean this room?" Lexie asked.

"No, the Archfield in general."

"Why?"

"Because everything in this hotel reminds me of you, Lex." Mark replied softly.

"It does?"

"I know it's pathetic. But you didn't want to talk to me anymore and I couldn't stop thinking about you. So I came here to take a drink in the hotel bar every now and then, remembering the time you came to my hotel room and took off all your clothes."

"Apparently I've made quite an impression that night." Lexie chuckled.

"Of course I knew you wanted to sleep with the man whore this first night. It was more out of curiosity then anything else."

"That's not true, Mark. I ..." Mark leaned back and cocked one eye brow as if he wanted to tell her that he could see right through her. "Okay, I admit it. I was curious if you were as good as your reputation."

"And you wanted to know if you'll get away with it."

"Get away with what?" Lexie asked innocently.

"Admit it! It was the first time you've done something that adventurous. I bet I was the first man you've made such a blunt move on."

"Ahh, don't flatter yourself."

"Don't lie to me, Lex. See, you're blushing." Mark chuckled and Lexie shoved her bottom lip out into an adorable pout. "I was just so irresistible."

"Well, they don't call you McSteamy without a reason." Lexie tried to justify her actions. "I just had to experience it for myself."

"And how was the experience?" Mark asked, a smug grin appearing on his face.

"You just want to hear me singing a hymn about your sexual prowess."

"Come on, Lex." Mark whined. "It was mindblowingly-fantastic."

"Yeah, it was." Lexie replied seriously, remembering how he almost literally blew her mind that night. "I assumed it would only last a few rounds of amazing sex, that it would get boring after I've satisfied my curiosity but then you've showed me the real man behind the man whore and I fell in love with you."

"You were the first woman I'll ever showed it to." Mark spoke quietly.

"I'm actually proud that I've cracked the infamous Mark Sloan." Lexie said with a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah, you did. You've wrapped me around your finger so fast that I could hardly catch my breath."

"Mark, promise me one thing." Lexie spoke barely above a whisper.

"Everything." Mark replied earnestly.

"We are not gonna let anything get in our way this time. Whatever the future will throw at us we go through it together. Okay?"

"I can do that. I'll never let you walk away again, Lexie. Living without you is not living. I'm only truly happy when I'm with you."

"So Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey united forever?"

"Till death do us part."

**The end**

* * *

><p><strong>I'm still riding on the sneak peaks high. Eric's voice is just incredible. I always have the feeling as if it sounds different when he is talking to Lexie and I love it. I'm really looking forward to tonight's episode. <strong>


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